Los ninos jugaban

Question

Why is this translated as The children were playing and not The children used to play?  I wonder if the chosen translation depends on the context?

Inma Sánchez · Accepted Answer

Hola Nancy
Yes, it depends on the context. Here in this lesson we are explaining how the imperfect tense is used to "describe" and this sentence is describing  a setting - pretty much saying what "was happening", so:

En el parque los niños jugaban, la gente paseaba a sus perros, algunos hacían footing...
In the park the kids were playing, people were walking their dogs, some were jogging...

However we could also say something like:

Cuando vivíamos en España, mis hijos jugaban mucho en la calle porque casi siempre estaba soleado.
When we lived in Spain, my children used to play a lot in the street because it used to be sunny nearly all the time.

Here it's a different context (used to) 
Saludos
Inma